Birthday!

It is indeed my birthday today, and I am thrilled to discover that I'm sharing it with this fellow, who's turning 30:

This Afternoon's Activities

Well, the future of Classical scholarship seems fairly bright at the moment! I just spent an hour and a half lecturing a group of students from one of the local high schools on a wide range of topics, including: Roman archaeology, the Roman forum, Piazza Argentina (cats!), the Mamertine prison, the Arch of Titus, Roman burial inscriptions, Roman graffiti, Mount Vesuvius, the Cortona region, the Julian calendar &c.

And they were engaged, inquisitive, and extraordinarily quick to understand things. Quicker, in fact, than some of my university classes have been. Anyway, it was a good afternoon!

Iunge Te Parti Atri...

I have a student whom I'm tutoring in Latin. He approached me a couple of months ago and asked to learn the language, as he was applying to begin pre-med this coming Fall, and pretty much figured that he wasn't going to have time to study Latin once that had begun. I agreed to teach him, and so we meet a couple of evenings a week at the coffee shop in the downtown public library, and are making our way gently through Wheelock's Latin. He's quite quick on the uptake, and I definitely got the impression that he was enjoying himself.

Turns out that impression was correct. He announced to me last week that he has been accepted... to begin a Bachelor of Arts degree majoring in Classical Languages. Take that, medical profession! Your are powerless in the face of the almighty Latin!

Heh. Heh. Heh.

Watch The Football!

Ok, you know those portentious, uber-dramatic, ads for upcoming televised sporting events? Well, here's a bit of light relief:

It's soccer-specific, but really, any sport you care to name indulges in this sort of thing.

Oh For The Love Of Pete...

Just stop it already!